Considerable sympathy will be felt for the correspondent whose letter was published on Sunday in connection w the proposal of his landlords to adjust, at the commencement of each month the dollar amount of his rental in proportion to the depreciation from the parity established by the National Government. It is true that this move on the part of the landlords does not amount to profiteering, but it does seek to transform a bargain for the renting of a house from the customary national currency basis to either sterling or U.S. dollars. Undoubtedly the landlords will regard this as an act of business prudence, but coming at a time like this, when the small man is already suffering, this delightful example of the art of "passing the buck, has nothing whatever to commend it. It is necessary in considering this matter to look into the nature of the landlords' investment. They bought Shanghai land with Chinese money, built properties for the most part from locally supplied materials for which they paid in the currency of the country, labour mostly Chinese, and now those properties have been established their maintenance and operation is paid for in the main in exactly the same money. It may be argued that the original money invested was transferred from sterling or U.S. Dollars and that the landlords are entitled to regard their properties in that light and to obtain an adequate return in those currencies upon their investment. That argument would have been perfectly sound if from the very commencement they had established the principle of making their charges in those foreign cur-rendes. They would then have taken the ough with the smooth, but in times when exchange ran high they might have found themselves hard put to meet those local expenditure which represent the greater part of their outlay. It, obviously, would not have paid them to adopt any such practice with the Tael above nine shillings; they would not have willingly assumed the burden which exchange would then throw on them, but they are apparently quite willing to shift it now to shoulders less able than ever to support it.
The facts of the case are quite simple. There is in Shanghai a large class of small people, earning salaries of no greater dimen-ions, whose remuneration in so many instances of late has already been reduced, and may even suffer that process again; there are small traders whose businesses have been ruined by the outbreak of hostilities, who are ekeing out their small savings in the hope that times will mend before their little capita has totally disappeared. It may be said that such people do not happen to be the tenants of the landlords who circulated the letter referred to, That consideration is not germane to the issue, for the matter is one of principle, and a serious principle at that What would happen if every foreign company rendering public services to Shanghai were to embark upon the same policy? Shanghai uld be paying its bills in currency foreign to this country, and would never know how much it would be called upon to pay until the accounts were presented, Such a situation would be intolerable, and common loyalty to the interests of the community as a whole demands that no such step should ever be made. The inhabitants of the city for the most part earn their livelihood in Chinese dollars; there are a few whose earnings ars in either sterling or U.S. dollars, they are, however, the fortunate minority, and would be entirely unaffected by any such proceeding, but as the correspondent pointed out he may eventually find himself in a position where the landlord would be demanding more dollars for rent than he would be earning. It would be interesting to know if this scheme can be applied to Chinese tenants. Prima facie it would seem that it cannot, for it is unbelievable that the Chinese courts would give judgment in anything but Chinese dollars, and though the contract between landlord and tenant might be expressed in terms of that currency, it would be merely a matter of evidence that the landlords were in fact charging and endeavouring to recover what in reality was foreign exchange. That really is the position, It does not matter how the tenancy contracts are worded; in this instance the landlords are in fact charging their rentals in terms of exchange.
As has already been pointed out this need not necessarily amount to profiteering, and, if all salaries were earned and paid in either sterling or U.S. dollars, there would be no reason whatever for complaint, but in view of local conditions this attitude of "each for himself and the devil take the hindmost" may be described in a number of appropriate ways, none of which are particularly pleasant sounding. Such landlords may reply to criticism that the tenant has his remedy in his own hands. That is perfectly true, and if the people who have received the letter in question do adopt the obvious measure to avoid so inequitable a bargain they will be just as prudent as the landlords who have devised this scheme. The effect of empty premises may prove more salutary than all the correspondence in the Press, for rents which cannot be collected are more potent arguments than all the remonstrance in the world. That is the only remedy which the tenant has, and as he is apparently a monthly renter of the premises he occupies, he should take it as soon as he can. It is to be hoped that the landlords responsible for this scheme will revise their decision, This is no time for driving hard bargains but a period when it is imperative that the whole community should hang together and face its difficulties with a conimon front and internal unity. By that means and that means alone can the future of Shanghai be safeguarded, and it has to be stated quite emphatically that procedure as that under criticism does nothing but contribute towards lack of that unity which is so important to this city at this juncture. It is not suggested for one moment that business men should assume the functions of altruists, but it seems necessary to point out that there is a proper time for all things, though this is not the fitting moment for developments such as that under review.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.